Kazakh lawyers, who participate in the state-guaranteed legal aid system, are affiliated with the investigating authorities. Such accusations against the servants of Themis were made by the senators and representatives of the General Prosecutor’s office at the round table concerning the activities of lawyers and the provision of legal assistance, which took place today in the Committee on Constitutional legislation, the judiciary and law enforcement agencies.
According to the Chairman of the Committee, the senator Vladimir Volkov, today in Kazakhstan there are not only measures to regulate the work of lawyers, but also control over the targeted use of budget funds for legal aid paid by the state. As an example, in support of his words, the senator cited cases when the accused, to whom the state provided a lawyer in the framework of state-guaranteed legal aid (SGLA), did not see their lawyer in person, or the investigators invited a lawyer who was “convenient” for them and who would not appeal their work.
The Deputy Prosecutor General of Kazakhstan, Marat Akhmetzhanov, agreed with these accusations. According to him, since 2017, more than $13.5 million has been allocated from the budget for the SGLA for socially vulnerable segments of the population. However, during this period, not one of the three thousand state lawyers has ever appealed against the procedural actions of investigators.
“We identified three aspects of violations,” said Akhmetzhanov about the results of prosecutorial inspections. “This is the lack of proper control over the targeted use of funds, the low quality of legal assistance guaranteed by the state, and the appointment of lawyers loyal to the investigating authorities. In 90% of cases, the investigator invites a convenient lawyer who does not appeal against his actions, signs all the documents and receives a guaranteed fee for this.”
In support of his words, Akhmetzhanov gave an example when in one of the protocols it was indicated that the lawyer spent about 22 hours of his time studying the client’s case. However, the prosecutors managed to establish that this was falsification, since the lawyer was abroad at that time. And such fraud, as noted by Akhmetzhanov, during only a month was found about 500.
“There is a well-established practice of appointing the so-called pocket lawyers, or assigning them to individual police authorities. In Karaganda region, investigators, having more than 40 lawyers in the region, in all cases invite only one defender who has not filed a single application, has not appealed a single action of the investigators! The work of the capital’s lawyers is generally structured according to the method of supervision over each police department. The consequences of such affiliation exclude the competitiveness of the parties, cause formalism and create corruption risks,” the Deputy Prosecutor General is convinced.
Meanwhile, as Vice-Minister of Justice Akerke Akhmetova said, from January 1, 2020, Kazakhstan will introduce mandatory liability insurance for lawyers. According to the official, such a measure will allow clients to contact insurance companies for damages in case of a lawyer’s mistake.
The senator Saule Aytpaeva said that the list of lawyers participating in the state-guaranteed legal aid system, published on the e-government website, has not been updated since 2015.
“The population should be provided with free consultation, but how will they receive it if the phones do not work?! I just checked it!” the senator was indignant.
In turn, Marat Akhmetzhanov added that since 2017 in Kazakhstan 25 lawyers have been prosecuted for fraud, bribery and intermediation.
“We need measures to strengthen the control and responsibility of lawyers for the failure to provide qualified legal assistance to citizens,” he said.
Well-known Kazakh lawyer Salimzhan Musin did not agree with the accusations of the Prosecutor General’s office. He noted that all of the above cases do not apply to real lawyers.
“Our legislation allows investigators or prosecutors, who have 10 years of experience, to become a lawyer without undergoing an internship. Of course, investigators will invite their former colleagues,” he said.
Akerke Akhmetova agrees with the opinion of Musin. She proposed to exclude the provision of access to the profession of a lawyer to persons dismissed from the prosecution and investigation authorities.
“It is necessary to establish a single duration of the internship in the law – one year, without the possibility of its reduction,” the Vice-Minister said. “Representatives of the investigating authorities and the Prosecutor’s office relate to the prosecution with their professional skills in the investigation and prosecution. In practice, judges also most often take the side of the prosecution and adhere to the accusatory position, which affects the methods of their work and the quality of their legal assistance.”
In turn, the chairman of the Republican Collegium of advocates Kadyrzhan Baimukhanova noted that during 9 months of 2019, only 208 acquittals were issued, which makes up only 5.3% of the total number of cases considered in courts.
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